Leadership and Business Growth

I am here today with the 2nd Leadership lesson from the first American Pope Leo XIV, which is:

Lead with Empathy vs. the Ivory Tower.

This is a dichotomy of leadership. 

As a leader, you have to be on top and in front, casting vision and leading your people far into the horizon. 

While that’s true and at the same time.

You must get in the trenches to build relationships, connect with, and listen to your people’s feedback and needs. 

Pope Leo XIV has lived his life in this manner.

He has plenty of leadership training in his first 3 decades of life in the States. However, in his early 30’s, he went off on a mission and lived in both Peru and Italy for decades.

In fact, the people of Peru claim them to be their own, which is a testament to their connection and his impact. 

Today’s lesson:

Connect with your team on a human and personal level.

You have to have a big vision as a leader! 

Just never forget to lead with empathy and get down from your ivory tower to be present in the service of your people.

I’m still in amazement of the first American Pope. 

In fact, I just recorded a podcast episode with a little more backstory to put some context on my amazement. 

In the episode, which is pending release.

I delivered 5 lessons Ive learned from Pope Leo XIV, who is now the spiritual leader for 1.4+ billion catholics on the planet.

Looking ahead, I will break them apart for our weekly lessons.

For today’s first lesson?

1. Leaders are trailblazers. They break the mold into uncharted territory.

By definition, leaders lead.

To provide another example that happened 71 years ago, when Roger Banister broke the 4-minute mile. Up until that point, it was deemed impossible for the human body to run at that pace.

Well, it was impossible until May 6, 1954, when Banister did it. 

The wild part?

Within 24 months, another 5 people accomplished the same feat. 

Given the nature and rarity of the papacy, no one knows if there will be another American Pope.

However, one thing is for certain: I had believed there never would be one, along with many American-based Catholics.

This was reinforced in my youth by my grandma, a devout Catholic, and the priests at the church where I served as an altar boy 30 years ago.

Well, it was impossible until May 8, 2025 when we watched Pope XIV, born and raised in Chicago, get anointed.

Given his impressive accomplishments, it seams to be well deserved. In hindsight, maybe not that big of a surprise.

Just remember: Leaders are trailblazers. They break the mold into uncharted territory.

Humility is a characteristic of strong leadership that attracts.

The world saw this on full display last Thursday, when Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope and “Bob” to his family/friends, initially greeted the world in both Italian and Spanish.

He is fluent in both languages, which is beyond impressive to me, despite speaking American English natively.

However, by addressing the world in this way at the onset of his papacy, it was a gesture to humanity.

Without using the words, he said, “You first, then me”.

That is humility at its finest.

It’s also strong leadership.

Just remember, good leadership requires humility.

One critical and challenging part of leadership is managing communication with your team.

The higher levels of leadership you go, the more bad news you receive.

Why?

The leader of every department or company is tasked with solving the biggest constraint of the department or organization.

What’s better?

Leadership is an ongoing process of solving the biggest, messiest problems.

With this responsibility, the hard truth is that you often encounter unpleasant news.

The best part?

The bigger the responsibility, the more frequent and heavy the news you receive.

So my message and lesson today are this:

When bad news that will affect your team and clients hits your door.

You must provide proper visibility so the concern is transparent.

Your people deserve this.

At the same time, you must ensure your communication is steady and not frantic. It should include a few proposed solutions along with a solution-oriented feedback request to build trust. 

This way, you show light (as there’s always light) and collaboration (to increase the probability of identifying the best solution) despite the darkness.

This is very hard and both an art and a science of leadership.

Just remember: Good leadership requires strong communication management.

The last 2 weeks have been busy. 

We just executed my 24th leadership quarterly meeting with our EOS implementor, Brian Underhill.

We analyzed our Q1. 

We looked at what worked and what opportunities we have to improve.

We then plotted the course for Q2, as we live in a 90-day world.

This 90-day process has been a game changer. 

Why?

Well, 90 days is enough space for big action. 

While still being short enough to refocus as attention shifts past that, which is a symptom rooted in human nature.

By living in this 90-day world and being rigorous about the process, it’s shifted our business and my life for the better.

This is the lesson today.

If you focus on the result, it’s easy to lose your way.

However, if you set the target but then focus on the process. 

More specifically, the incremental steps you need to take to be successful.

Then guess what?

The result takes care of itself.

Just remember: Good leadership obsesses on the process.

I am in the process of writing my first leadership book, which is set to release in late Q4. 

More specifically, Im working with an editor to crystallize the content I have poured on hundreds of pages over 12+ months of Sunday writing sessions.

My initial intent was to write a book about leading others.

Yes, that will come.

However, the writing process has been a therapeutic exercise in reflection, which has created great clarity.

It opened my eyes to the simplicity and complexity of leadership.

While not everyone desires or should be a leader of others.

Every human on Earth has to be a self-leader.

You are responsible for leading yourself; no one else is!

Using “First Principles” thinking, it only makes sense to begin at the foundation.

Self-Leadership.

The good news?

My experience has shown me that leading yourself is about 80%+ of the battle of leading others.

So my lesson today is this.

Leading yourself well (otherwise known as self-mastery) should be your biggest priority.

It’s the foundation of leading a beautiful life and will equip you to lead others if you so choose.

Without strong self-leadership, nothing else matters.

This lesson hit home, so please pay special attention. 

2 weeks ago, Barrett and I hosted my dear friend Petra on a Fit Body Mastermind call. 

Petra is a survivor of the hard socialist rule of East Germany. 

She was 22 years old when the Berlin Wall fell.

On November 9, 1989, she waited 5+ hours to walk through a little crevice in the fractured wall with terror and excitement to taste freedom for the first time.

Something most of us took for granted.

It was an inspiring interview with a lot of takeaways, including a massive perspective shift. 

However, 1 question I asked her hasn’t left me.

“Petra – what’s the #1 thing North Americans take for granted?” I asked. 

Her response:

“Americans take the ultimate freedom for granted: Freedom of Speech.”

You see, this is a liberty not granted to most of humanity even today.

Using “first principles” physics thinking, all of our entrepreneurial freedom hinges on this.

While this has societal and political implications that hit near and dear being, Barrett and my great grandparents escaped the communist regime in Poland like many of our ancestors.

I look at her feedback from a leadership framework, which is the spirit of today’s lesson.

Leaders create a strong feedback culture where people are comfortable sharing the good, bad, and ugly.

This is mission-critical to ensure your team and clients are heard.

This will improve your product and service when feedback can be shared freely.

The dichotomy of this is that just because you can say something, it doesn’t mean you should. 

There can and will be consequences for what you say, rightfully so, which is the dichotomy.

With great freedom comes great responsibility.

However, strong leadership leans into the danger and creates space for a feedback culture.

Short term, this can sting.

Long term, this is beneficial to your organization as human nature can analyze both good and bad ideas. 

With space, eventually, the good rise to the top.

The opposite is true.

However, this can only be done if you, as the leader, create the space for dialogue, which is today’s lesson.

 After all, Good Leaders Create A Strong Feedback Culture!

This past Friday was a great reminder as we hosted a team bonding event at Fit Body HQ.

We carved out a few hours to play a competitive game of kickball and have lunch together.

Why is this significant?

In the hustle and bustle of business.

It’s easy to get task-focused, especially with the mountain of work we have.

Yes, executing tasks is important.

However, connecting your people is even more important.

It’s the foundation of your leadership success. 

When you take time at least 1x per quarter to go off-site, have some fun, and break bread together.

Short term, you might feel some anxiety like I do.

However, you are investing in your people and relationships.

Long term, it creates a healthier organization and stronger value for your clients.

Easy to do on paper but harder to do in practice.

Thank you to my amazing leaders in Britt and Jessica, for being rigid on our team-building process.

Just remember, with all the hustle and bustle:

Leaders prioritize people and relationships. 

The higher in leadership you go.. 

The heavier the weight, pressure, stress, and 911 emergencies you will encounter. 

Bryce 1.0 would get riled up, pissed off and lose his cool.

I remember kicking my office door back in 2012, almost breaking my foot after a 1-hour botched video attempt.

Not good and a recipe for leadership disaster.

True story. 

While I have a ways to go, thankfully, I’ve learned and leveled up along with way.

Instead, strong leadership requires you to handle true disasters cool, calm, and collected.

Why?

Your composure gives you clarity around the situation and influence from your followers.

This is not easy because you must override your limbic system programming, which is why self-mastery is critical towards your leadership development.

In fact, self-mastery is your leadership north star, which is a journey worth pursuing. 

Just remember: Leadership requires you to be cool, calm, and collected through the chaos.

Politics aside, I was inspired last week by Elon Musk and the Space X team, along with NASA, who saved 2 American astronauts stuck in space for nearly 10 months.

This was an incredible accomplishment and am still in disbelief at what we saw!

What a giant win for space travel, human ingenuity, and for all of mankind!

I could have never dreamed of a day where a private company could save the day by serving the biggest superpower the world has ever known.

Well, it happened, and there are many lessons to be derived.

One of them is this:

Leaders challenge what’s possible.

Hats off to Elon Musk and Space X for leading the way and challenging what is possible!